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Smokescreen
Chapter One I purr contentedly as my owners stroke my thick coat of fur. Stretching luxuriously, I yawn,and jump on top of the window sill, my favorite place to relax in this whole house. Leaves are falling in thick clumps of red and yellow outside, a dark night sky above the mounds of color, it's an enchanting sight. I look at my barely visible reflection on the window, and a green-eyed tom with a mottled gray and black coat stares back, a ghostly apparaition of myself. Smokescreen is what they call me. It fits so perfectly, my pelt blending in with the mist of the morning air, or the darkness of the night. When my owners found me, I was barely visible, my green eyes glowing in the dark, so young that I was barely weaned of my mother's milk. They found me alone, abandoned, motherless, in what they called a box, a brown object which walls seemed almost impenetrable back then. I never knew who my family was, never remembered. "Smokescreen!" One of my owners ushers me into the bedroom. "Bed!" I obedediently pad into my bedding, a kind of wierd, soft stuff, and another owner takes off my collar for the night. My last thought before I crashed into my dreams was what I would do tomorrow, but of course I didn't know what would happen then. Chapter Two I drowily open my eyes. The the warm,yellow sunrise washes over the room comfortingly, but I feel uncomfortable, like something is going to happen. I pad into the kitchen, where a bowl of pellets and water are waiting for me. I screw my face in disgust as I crunch the pellets and lap up the sour water. It still tastes really bad, even after so long. Suddenly, I flick my ears up instinctively in apprehension. Something's coming, but what? Now. A big rumbling noise, and a tremor in the ground. The floor shakes violently, and random things fly down to the floor at me. I hiss in surprise and race for a flap that lets me go outside. I barely make it when the whole world starts to shake more and more violently. I hide under a bush and crouch down, bracing myself, for the coming crash that I hear. Its too much for me. I black out, losing consciousness. All I see is darkness. It sends me into a deep,dreamless sleep, a sleep that seems suffocatingly black. I wake up in my bush, light filtering through the branches. I slowly crawl out of my bush into a nightmare. Houses are transformed into piles of rubble. The ground is turned up, like when I dig through the dirt with my claws. Left and right, there is nothing that seems like normal. That when realization hits me. Hard. My life is torn apart. My owners are gone. Everything I lived in was gone. And strangely, I feel okay. Like this is a natural part of my life or something. I take a deep breath and start walking out of the wreckage that lies before me. Moving on. Chapter Three It's getting dark. The words echoing through my mind, make me afraid. I have almost always been inside of my owner's house before sunset. Now, what will I do? I have heard stories of cats in the wilderness, hunting mice, birds, and other creatures from other house cats. There are rumors floating around that cats actually eat each other in the wild, but I don't believe it, considering house cats almost never went into the forests and woods. I've actually caught a bird once. It was in some tall grass on my owner's front yard, grooming itself(do birds actually groom themselves?) and I pounced on it. I didn't know what to do with it, so I just buried it. Now, will I really have to resort to eating live animals? It makes me shudder just to think about it. I'm in an old street, almost right next to some woods. I consider my options, then decide to spend the night in a little niche I see next to a building. Its damp and cold, but it's better than nothing. Sighing, I settle down on the hard, cold floor, and shift myself in the most comfortable position I could think of. It's going to be a hard night. A mouse, squeaking, runs by me. I make a halfhearted grab for it before it disappears down a hole. Maybe someday I'll have the courage to eat mice and other creatures. It just feels so.....wrong. Curling up into a ball, I close my eyes, and relax my body. Save the stress for later. For now, just sleep. Maybe tommorow, I'll make a visit into the woods I saw earlier, and finally see how bad it is for myself. Shivering, and not just from the cold, I finally fall into sleep, and darkness floats all around me. Chapter Four The first thing I see is a bright light. For a moment I think that I am back in that safe haven, my owners taking care of me, and I not having the slightest worry, but as I open my eyes, I know the truth. I can see it all around me. The unfamiliar dark streets, the cold, blank walls, and of course, the mysterious forest are all the proof that I need to see that I'm definetely not safe here. The forest looms, dark green against the horizon, as I start walking towards it. When I reach the edge, I hesitate for what seems eternity. Beads of sweat drops on the ground, and I gulp nervously, looking at the shadows that seem to reach at me. I steel my nerves, then, venture into the forest. I slowly walk through the forest, jumping at every sound, and afraid of every shadow, when a light-gray blur pounces on me. I writhe and spit in surprise to see a silver she-cat with eyes like pools of sky, about one moon younger than me, pinning me to the ground. "Gah!", I choke in surprise. Twisting my body, I finally shake her off. She lands on the ground hard, but immediately gets up again, and hisses, advancing toward me. Instinctively, I unsheathe my claws, and dodge her swipe, making her unbalanced. I then counterattack, slashing her shoulders, and finally headbutting her hard on the face. It hurts, but I can see by the surprise and bruise on her face that it hurts way more for her. She dizzily sits back on her behind, and slumps onto the ground. "Okay, you win", she gasps. "I'll give back the prey I stole, just don't take me to Skull, please!" I cock my head in surprise. Was this cat playing a trick on me? "Um,I really don't know what you're talking about." The she cat spits angrily on the ground. "Then why were you following me?" This cat is really confusing me. "I wasn't", I said. "I'm only a house cat that got caught in a wierd supernatural happening that made the ground shake and destroyed my owner's house!" The she cat groaned. "So you're a kittypet! Imagine that! A kittypet beating me in a fight!" I frown in confusion. This cat is obviously bieng very rude, but I don't have an inkling of what a kittypet is. The she cat glares angrily at me, like I'm some kind of tick that won't go away. She starts to open her mouth, probably about to scream at me, but voices not far away are heard. "She has to be here! When I get my paws on her....." the voices growl and yowl in frustration. Panicked, the she cat manages to get to her feet. "Hide!" she yelps, and dissapears into the bushes. I'm about to follow her, when a black tom, with about five other cats, crashes to the foilage towards me. "I thought I heard voices!" Chapter Five The tom glares down at me. "Who were you talking with?! And where is she?!" "She attacked me!", I lie through my teeth. "After that, she ran that way!" I point to the opposite direction of where she actually is. The tom clenches his teeth. "If you lied to me......" "Why would I lie to you?", I say sweetly. "That cat tried to kill me!" The tom shakes his head and rushes off with his group of cats. After twenty seconds, I turn to the bush. "You can come out now." She crawls out cautiously, her fur unmatted and full of twigs, leaves, and other debree. She stalks toward me and glared. "If you weren't here, none of this would have happened." She starts padding away. "Wait!", I yowl. "What?" the she cat turns, obviously irritated. "At least tell me your name!" I take a step closer to her. She rolls her eyes in disgust. "Whatever. It's Frost. Are you happy now?" She stalks away. I shake my head and turn around to see six cats staring daggers at me. "You lied.", the black tom growls. "You know what we do to liers?" He puts his smelly face close to mine. "We kill them. Slowly. Painfully." I gulp in fear. "How'd you get back so early?" "Oh, that was easy. I left behind a little spy behind, and he informed me of some mysterious news. A little baby cat tried to lie to us about this certain she cat running through our paws. Now, to top it off, I think that little baby idiot is going to die in the worst way possible" He raises his eyebrows mockingly. "Any last words?" I'm about to tell him that he reeks of dirt and should go wash his face, when a cat from one of the tom's group starts whispering in his ear. The tom looks at me pitifully. "Hey, little kitty, its your lucky day! You get to be our prisoner instead." They all start chuckling evily, and start coming towards me, claws now unsheathed. I narrow my eyes. "You gotta take me first." I jump into the air and land on a brown-furred tom's back and starts clawing it to pieces. The tom wriggles and twists, trying to throw me off. He finally does, but not before I did a considerable amount of damage to his back. I use the momentum of the throw to airborn slash another cat's cheek. Then, I just go on autopilot. Ripping and slashing, like it was nothing. Cats running away. When my head finally clears, the black tom is the only one left. "Don't hurt me", he whimpers at me in amazement and fear. I start advancing towards him, claws out. "This looks familiar....", I purr. The tom growls in triumph. "Fooled ya!" He grabs my paws with lightning speed, and holds me upsidown. "Well it looks like you're our prisoner." Slinging me over his wide, muscled back, he starts toward his fleeing companion's trails. That's when a silver streak slashes his muzzle. He so surprised, all he can do is stare in astonishement as Frost claws his face. "Then, he drops me and runs like the little baby he is, bellowing in fear and pain. "Why weren't you faster", I grumble at Frost, rubbing my neck. She shrugs, amusement glinting off her eyes. "Maybe I wanted to see you trussed up like a ball of moss." Then she eyes me with amazement. "How'd you take down those meanies back there? You looked like a mouse next to a cat, but you sent them all packing!" Now it's my turn to shrug. "Instinct." Frost looks closely at me, trying to figure out whether I'm joking or not. Then, she sighs. "Now we've got a common enemy, huh?" "Yeah." I look at her. "Who is he?" "That's a long story." She sits down. "But I'll guess I'll tell it to you. Chapter six They weren't always there. We even enjoyed living in the forest for a while. But then, it happened one cloudless morning, when I still in my mother's womb. Their leader, Skull, with countless rogues at his side, almost wiped us out, taking the forest for himeself. A few lucky ones were spared, my mother being one of them, and taken prisoner. They were forced to work to death, building the dens, hunting, and basically all the dirty work. When my mother had me, her only kit, she died. She was still in shock by my fathers death, who was not a lucky one, combined with the hard labor she endured, did not survive the birth. I was taken to a facility, run by Skull's right hand cat, Dusk, the one who you met earlier. Yeah, it was pretty harsh. We were malnourished, forced to scavenge for scraps, and they made us labor out in the fields, picking herbs, and hunt. One day, though, after a particularly tough day, I decided to eat one of the prey I was supposed to bring back. Unfortunately, one of the rogues saw me, reported me, and in a matter of seconds, Dusk, and his stupid "prey patrol" were after me. I ran, of course, hid at the edge of the woods, and decided to wait until they passed by me. Thats when I met you. . ''Frost closes her eyes. "Thats it. Thats all I know.", she breathes. Chapter Seven I step back in shock as Frost's story paints a vivid picture in my head of how Frost lived under Skull. "I-I never knew cats could be this cruel." Frost laughs harshly. "I was a very lucky cat. Others could have died, would have died, but at least I had the courage to run away." I turn inquiringly to Frost. "So what are you going now? I mean, you've escaped Skull, but now what?" Frost turns. "I'm going to leave this forest, and find a new home where Skull, or any other cat like Skull, for that matter is far away." With a determined set to her jaw, she pads away again. "Goodbye!", I yowl. She turns around. I can imagine her eyes rolling, but she starts running back toward me. When she reaches me, she stops, gasping for breath. "You really aren't going to leave, aren't you", I say, my whiskers twitching with amusement. "Not another word. You're lucky that I've decided to come back and at least teach you some hunting skills. Not that you'll need them but....." She trails off when she sees me almost busting my gut, laughing. She glares. "I'm serious!" "Yeah", I say with a smirk. "You must really have warmed up to me." I can hardly keep a straight face when her face turns red, and she starts snarling at me to shut up and stop. But I don't think she's really angry. And I don't mind her around, even when she insults me, and sarcastically replies to my questions. "On second thought, I'll just leave", she says, whipping around, and walking away. "What about those hunting moves?", I call, when I realize that she's so annoyed at me that she's serious about leaving. "Teach them to yourself", she yowls back. "Wait!" I fall over in embarrasment. "Okay, Okay, I get it! I"m sorry for teasing you!" I run till I catch up to her. "You mean it?", she say. "Yeah", I say akwardly. "Fine". She turns around and faces me. "You must have really warmed up to me.", she says with a playful smirk. All I can do is gawp in astonishment as she saunters past me and into the woods. I've found a friend. Chapter Eight I cautiously stalk in the tall grass , taking care not to rustle even a blade of grass. It's been a moon since Frost, well, decided to teach me hunting skills, medicine skills, and any other skills she knows. Apparently, she's really good at hunting, from being able to hunt her whole life, and she's been teaching me ever since. Ever so quietly, I punce on the shrew that was nibbling on a seed, and quickly nip it's throat before it can let out a shriek. Frost walks up to me. "Did you catch it?" I nod, making out a muffled "Yes", that sounds like I have ditchwater in my mouth(not pleasant.) "Good." She inspects my vole. "Although I could do better." I snort and roll my eyes, and start back to the shelter that's our temporary home. It's a part rock, and part branch, that we weaved in, and it provides good shelter againts the elements. I drop the vole into the prey pile that we've made. Frost pads after me. "I think it's a good idea for me to leave now. After all, you learned the basics of hunting, and I have things to do, places to be!", she mews, waving her tail. "Right, you've only said this like a hundred times this past few days.", I say exasperatedly. It's true, she keeps on talking about leaving, only then to come back in the middle of the night, spouting out excuses like water rushing down a river. "You know, why don't you come with me.", she sighs. "After all, I won't have a cat to annoy when I leave, so might as well....." I look closely at her, then snorts. "Or you're too scared." Frost's glare could have melted stone. "Well, are you going to come? Or are you just going to just stay here, rotting away", she says, not bothering to reply to my teasing. "Fine", I mutter. "But I still think that really you're too scared." Frost leaps at me, taking me by complete surprise. She starts wiggling her tail at my nose, the most ticklish part of my body.... and she knows that, when a leaf fell down and landed on my nose, and I started laughing hysterically. I roll around the grass, giggling crazily. "Stop! Stop! I'll do whatever you say!" "Really?", she says slyly, then leaps off me. I groan, getting to my feet. "Y'know, there are other ways of telling what other cats to do. Frost blinks up at me, then asks me in a rush, "Whereshouldwego!" "What?!" I stare at her. "I don't know." "Frost looks thoughtful for a moment, then brightens up. We can leave the forest, find a new destiny, maybe find a new home...." She's lost in thought when a cat ragged, her brown and orange coat splotched with blood, stumbles into our presence. Chapter Nine "Leaf!", Frost cries out in surprise. She rushes up to the cat and starts helping her lay into the grass. "Frost....I thought I smelled you.", the cat raspsed. "Things are worse up with the rogues." Frost's eyes flash in anger and she licks Leaf's ear. "What'd they do to you!" Leaf's eyes are dull. "They killed us all. Rabbit, Marmalade, Mud, all dead......" She trails off, shocked into silence. "No, no, no!" Frost looks up to the sky, eyes blazing with fury. "Friends of yours?" I step up to her, and nudge her comfortingly. "More than friends", she whispers. "We were together all that time, and now they're......." She wails in sadness and anger. Then, she looks up into Leaf. "But how'd you live?" Leaf shakes her head, barely able to register the question. "Almost killed me. Took me into forest...... injured me" She seems in much pain. "But survived. Caught your scent. Found you." Frost wobbles on her legs, with a faraway look in her face. Then she turns to me. "Quick! Do we have any herbs?" "Yes" I hesitate. "What does she need?" "Lots of chervil! Quick! And some cobwebs too!." I rush out to our herb storage, and bring out the items she wants. In no time, Leaf is plastered in herbal gunk and cobwebs, and is half carried, half dragged into our den. After she is fed, and given some water, she quickly falls asleep, leaving me and Frost alone. "Your friends, who are they?" I ask gently. Frost looks at the sky, almost darkening to twilight, her gaze sad. "They were the best companions a cat could ever had, sticking up for me, giving me strength." She lets out a half choked sob, tears in her eyes. I lay my tail on her back. Well, you still have Leaf. She sighs. "I feel that there's a part of me missing." Then she looks at me with such force that I almost back away. "Skull and his brainless minions have to be punished!", she growls, scraping the ground. I look at her sadly. "How?" She shakes her head, a determined glint in her eyes. "We've got brains. They don't. We can stragetize. They're just bullies, cowardly, and cruel towards others. We can do it!" She looks at me with an almost hopeful look. Chapter Ten I flick my tail sypathetically, and shake my head. "In case you haven't noticed, we're outnumbered probably more than forty to one. Even if we're the smartest cats in the world, these cats have enough power to build an army!" Frost gets up, fire in her eyes. "How do you know that the smartest cats in the world can't defeat an army of cats! You don't have to be the smartest to actually defeat them." I sigh defeatedly, and tell her, "Fine, go ahead and fight, but you can't win. I'm going to go, and find a living somewhere else." I walk away, leaving the only friend I knew since the shaking ground. Frost runs up to me, and forces me to look at her in the eye. "Are you really leaving?" I nod. "My destiny is somewhere else, not fighting Skull. Good luck. You'll definetly need it." I walked away, heading deeper into the forest, but away from Skull's territory. When I was out of sight of Frost, I started running. The world seemed to blur at my paws as I streak away. I feel exilerated. Maybe, when my journey is over, I'll run into Frost, and we'll talk about old times, laugh, relate to what we are doing. Sniffing happily, I start stalking a squirrel tat has crossed my path. The squirrel dashes up into a tree, where it chatters angrily down at me. Nonchalantly, I walk through the light filled trees, when I hear a short scream coming in front of me. Chapter Eleven A little she cat, no more than four moon old is whimpering in fear and pain, with two rogues behind her. One of the rogues pokes the little kit in the back and jeers, "Come on little kitty cat, why don't you come out and play." Seeing the claw marks on her back, I make a conclusion that these cats are sadistic monsters that find little kits as toys. Quietly I stalk around them, facing with the wind so they won't smell my scent. When I'm behind them, I pounce on one of them, and roar so loud, it almost frightens me. The two rogues run away, and one of them says, "Skull will punsih you!" Then they disappear into the underbrush. My destiny disappears along with them. With the word out, Skull and his minions can easily now find me, track me down, and kill me. Any chance of leaving is impossible. Gently, I pick up the kit, who is calming down to frightened mews. Now, what are we going to do? This little kit can't look after herself. Frost's idea seems to be the best option right now. Sighing, I retrace my steps back to Frost. She is waiting, at the front of the camp, with a trumphirate look in her face. "I knew you would come back-", she starts to yowl. Then, she notices the kit. "Who is that?" I sigh again. "That's why I'm here." I tell her the whole story, and she grins in antcipation. "You're staying? We could really use some help. It's hard to think with a cat groaning inside the den." She bounds into the den, to get some herbs for the kit. Smiling a little, I set the kit down. I'm back. Chapter Twelve Frost comes back with some herbs. She examines the kit carefully. "Who are your parents?", she asks, not unkindly. The little kit, who is still shivering from her encounter with those stupid rogues manages to squeak out,"F-fish was my m-mother. Never k-knew m-y f-father. B-both died." Frost looks sympathetically at the kit. "Poor little scrap." She begins looking at the kit's wounds, and dabs pastes on them. "Marigold here, cobwebs.. Done!" She looks up at me. Now, all she needs is poppy seeds and rest. She gathers the kit in a little bundle, and carries her into the den by the scruff of her neck. When she comes back outside. She looks worried. "I knew Fish. She was one of the snappiest she cats in the world, and yet, she had some kind of maternal sweetness in her. She would have made a great mother." She sighs with regret. "That kit is going to be trouble. Maybe she's really tired right now, but later, she's going to be a bouncing ball of energy." "If the kit goies, then I go.", I retort. "I just mean to be prepared," she says with a sigh. Chapter Thirteen "Attack!", a huge,gray cat, followed by many, blitzes into our camp. Some of them go into the den, and I can hear scream and wails, with the occasional sound of the spatter of blood. The rest rushes me. I barely unsheath my claws, when they erupt around me, scratching,biting, and kicking. I go down yowling in fear and anger, blood running through my eyes...... when I wake up, my nest torn to shreds. I stand up, panting heavily, when Frost looks up, blearily blinking up at me. Then she sees my nest and my half-wild expression. "Bad dream huh?" She yawns and stands up. All I can do is nod. "How did you know?" She smirks a little. "What do you think? I used to have them, you know." She shakes her head sleepily. "Lets go for a walk. Thats helps a lot." I look over to Leaf and the kit." What if we get attacked?" She snorts. "If they attack, then we'll know about it, and they'll rip us to shreds first. Come on!" She stretches, then runs out into the cool night air. I follow her, keeping at her pace, then speeding up, passing her. "Wait up!" She tries to catch up, panting. I slow down to a walk, and she paces next to me. "Stupid furrball." She shoves me gently. I look at her teasingly, then shoot away, the wind rushing through my fur. It's exhilirating, and as I race around the trees, my worries melt away. I skid to a stop at the base of an old oak tree, then watch as Frost collapses on the ground, winded. I walk up to her, and help her up. She shake me off, pushing my shoulder playfully. She growls mockingly, and suddenly races off, back toward camp. "Try and beat me!", she calls. I just shake my head and sigh. One day..... As I curl up in my nest, I look at her sleeping form, and smile. She looks so peaceful when she sleeps, not the ball of energy she is during the day. I drift off to sleep, hoping that tomorrow would bring better luck than today. Epilogue(of episode one) ''He sniffed the ground, hoping to find some kind of scent. Nothing. He howled in frustration. So close, but yet so far! He would find him someday...... then get revenge. Steam curled from his mouth in the cold night, his paws crunching the brittle leaves to dust. His amber eyes glowed with malice, glowing in the darkness. He looked at the sky. It seemed to roil and flash with stars, more than any he had ever seen in his entire lifetime. Deep inside of him, he felt a flicker of fear. Although he never believed of Starclan with his battle with the clans, thier faith unerved him. However, he reduced them to nothing, the fools. He took over the forest, and now had slaves to oppress. His eyes now blazed with anger and madness. He would find that cat, that gray-haired tom that humiliated him and his followers. Lifting his pale-white head, he began sniffing the air again. At last! A faint scent drifted toward him. He narrowed his eyes. He would make them pay for all thier annoyances. As he padded away, the night seemed to grow darker than ever before.